Lessons from a Quitter

This is Part 2 of a 3-part series on Toxic Work Environments.  The term “toxic” is thrown around so often that it has all but lost its meaning. It’s hard to know what truly is toxic and what is something we just don’t like.  In this series, I’ll dive into how to start discerning what is toxic, what you have control over and how to think about your career in a way that will serve you.  Last episode dealt with Toxic Coworkers. This episode deals with Toxic Bosses and other people who have a direct impact on your job.  Next week, we’ll dive into jobs that have toxic hours, tasks, or conditions that are not ideal.

This is part 1 of a 3-part series on toxic work environments.  The term “toxic” is thrown around so often that it has all but lost its meaning. It’s hard to know what truly is toxic and what is something we just don’t like.  In this series, I’ll dive into how to start discerning what is toxic, what you have control over and how to think about your career in a way that will serve you.  This episode deals specifically with toxic coworkers. But the principles can be applied to anything that is a part of your work life but doesn’t have a direct impact on you completing your duties.  Part 2 will dive into toxic bosses or anything that does have a direct impact on your work. And Part 3 will explore toxic jobs, meaning tasks, hours, or conditions that are not ideal.

If you only look to your past, at what you’ve already achieved, in order to determine what you’re capable of achieving in the future, you’ll only get the same results you already have. That’s why so many people limit their dreams. They think that all that is possible are things that they already have evidence for. But–here is the thing–your past only exists in your mind. It does not dictate what is possible in the future. You have to learn to tap into your future self to push out of your comfort zone and dream up a life bigger than the one you can imagine.  This week on the podcast, I’ll show you how. 

We all know how to work hard to achieve things but we’re terrible at actually enjoying them. That’s because our society loves to glorify hard work but shame the people who have anything– rest, joy, money, pleasure, food. So we think we want those things, we hustle to get them, and then we’re wracked with guilt when we actually have them.  Learning to have is a skill and, on today’s episode, I teach you how to start building it.

When we start thinking about career change, we tend to jump into overdrive and want to change everything in the next couple of months. But then we get overwhelmed by all the things that need to be changed. On today’s episode, I teach you how to use 5-year plans to get past that overwhelm and figure out exactly what it is you want to do. When you can slow yourself down enough to see that all you need is baby steps, the change becomes much more manageable.

This week I want to talk to you about why sometimes you just need to throw yourself the party. You should always make time to celebrate yourself and since I always want to be an example for you, I'm throwing a party next week and you're invited!

This week I want to talk to you about being selfish. This is kind of a hot topic but I want to argue that you can’t help others until you help yourself. Really tuning into your needs and asking what you can do to move yourself a little closer to what you want every day is not a big lift. So if you’re always putting everyone else’s needs before yours and always putting yourself last, give this episode a listen.

On this week’s episode, I’m sharing the lessons I learned from our month in Wyoming. Some of these are lessons I’ve been learning and relearning for awhile and one totally blew me away.

On this week’s episode, I talk with Kathryn Finney, a former Yale-trained epidemiologist turned blogger turned investor and philanthropist. Before Wordpress even existed and you had to print out photos and then scan and upload them online, Kathryn created her blog, The Budget Fashionista. After running that for many years, she sold the blog and founded digitalundivided, a social enterprise focused on helping Black women own their work. She then went on to found and manage Genius Guild, a $20M venture fund. At the onset of the pandemic, she wanted to do more to support Black-women owned businesses so she founded The Doonie Fund, giving out micro-investments from her own personal investment. Most recently, she published Build The D*mn Thing: How To Start A Successful Business If You’re Not A Rich White Guy, in it she empowers entrepreneurs to take advantage of their unique networks and resources. Kathryn has such an incredible quitter story and I can’t wait for you to hear more from her on the episode.

This week I want to talk to you about how to go after your dream life. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I’ve been in Jackson Hole, Wyoming for the past month. Taking this trip with my family is one way I’m going after my dream life. And the process is actually really simple, it’s just two steps. I want to show you that the things you want are possible because whether you think you can or you can’t you’re right. So this week I’m sharing the two-step process for going after your dream life and how I'm applying that in my own life.